Accommodating, or Enabling?
(From the Archives, May 2017)
by Chris McGinnis, PhD, BCBA-D
A caution about accommodations in the classroom, whether that be under a Section 504 Plan or an IEP: Accommodate only what cannot be changed.
There exist lists upon lists online and checkboxes upon checkboxes on educational forms for educators and parents as to accommodation options.
Extra time on tasks: check.
Preferential seating: check.
Provide hardcopy of homework assignment: check.
Check, check, check.
Sign here.
Commonly, accommodations are extended in response to an ADHD diagnosis or OHI classification. Yet ADHD really reflects only problem behaviors (it is diagnosed ultimately by observational checklist) and as a behavior analyst I can promise you that problem behaviors can be changed, shaped, molded, replaced, and made less probable given the right conditions and teaching techniques. And when behavior patterns qualifying for an ADHD diagnosis are made less probable, frequent, or severe, so too is the diagnosis (and need for accommodations) made less probable.
Thus, accommodating ADHD runs the risk of not helping but hurting; accommodations tend to enable.
As an example, a child - particularly one diagnosed with ADHD - who would much rather be playing video games than doing math in class is likely to engage in creative ways to avoid doing that math. Said another way, that child learns to make his or her problem our problem. Add the accommodation of extra time to do the math, and voila, that student is likely to use that extra time. The accommodation has enabled postponement, poor time management, and lack of task perseverance. All of that is made even more probable.
Counterintuitively, a nonenabling accommodation for that child would be to require half the usual time for credit, not twice the usual time. His problem is now his problem. Wow, now he seems to be getting his math done!
Let's all be more thoughtful about how we engineer the world around our kids and our students. Rather than our adjusting to their problem behavior, we should expect them to adjust to our expectations. Look through their eyes when considering and evaluating accommodations for the classroom. Look at the historical effect each accommodation already extended has produced.
We should ask ourselves whether we are engineering things to be more comfortable for them or to bring out the best in them.
Instead of lowering the bar, we should raise it.
And it's funny. As a child and family psychologist of 20 years and a parent for over 10 years, I've generally found kids to reach the bar wherever it happens to be set. Be careful when you are considering lowering it as a means of helping!
Dr. Chris McGinnis is a family psychologist in private practice based in Jupiter, Florida. He is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Nationally Certified School Psychologist. His website is www.mcginnisbehavioral.com.